Leh, Jammu & Kashmir

Leh, India


Leh is the capital of the Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh, which is now called the Leh District of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India. The district of Leh covers an area of 45,110 square kilometers, making it the largest district in terms of size throughout India.

The Leh district is one surrounded by tall mountains, some as high as 3,500 meters. It was here that the Kingdom of Ladakh was founded around the end of the 10th century. It is located on an important trading route between China and India, between Pubjab and Central Asia, and between Kashmir and Tibet.

Leh Palace, India

Planning your trip to Leh

By Plane
There are flights from Delhi and Srinagar to Leh. Due to unpredictable weather, flights are some times cancelled if the weather is bad, hence you have to brace yourself for such possibility if flying in. By Road
The main access to Leh is by road. It is usually done by 4WD vehicles, arranged through a travel agency in Delhi, or through connection with local monasteries. There are also buses from Srinagar and jeeps from Manali.

You have two options to reach Leh, via Srinagar from the west or via Manali in the south. Either way, you are going to pass through winding mountain roads in a scabrous terrain, punctuated with security checkpoints and stringent checking of your passport and luggage.

The Srinagar-Leh Highway is the preferred highway to reach Leh, as it runs at a lower attitude compared with the Manali-Leh Highway. The Srinagar highway is 434 kilometers (270 miles) in length, and is open to traffic in the warmer months, from June to October. The highway follows the traditional trade route between the Kingdom of Ladakh and Kashmir.

Whether via Srinagar or Manali, the land journey to Leh will be one of the longest car rides you will ever take, through terrain that can only be described as breathtaking.

Planning your travel within Leh

Having completed such a long journey to get there, you will find that Leh itself is small enough for you to explore on foot. The only place where you would need a taxi is the journey between the airport and town, assuming you are flying in. If you are arriving from the lowlands, you should allow some days to acclimatize before any strenous walking around.

Leh, Ladakh

Places of Interest in Leh

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About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.